Could Be a Record Travel Day for 'Spirit' Rover on Mars

NASA's "Spirit" rover is making more tracks Monday. The Mars Explorer team hopes the rover will travel about 82 feet Monday morning and make the same distance again Monday afternoon.

Spirit's longest previous trek in a day has been 70 feet. Spirit will also examine a flaky rock, called "Mimi." Mission manager Jim Erickson says scientists want to know why Mimi is flaky, but its neighboring rocks are not.

Mimi is just one stop along the way as Spirit moves toward a crater called "Bonneville," about 800 feet from its landing place. That trip will take about 18 days.

On the other side of Mars, the twin rover "Opportunity" is in position to dig a trench in "Hematite Slope." That area is named for an iron-bearing mineral that typically forms in water.

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